A Parrot's Life for Me
by Cearta Day
Summary: Back in 1995, little Tai and Kari brought an agumon into our world, but who caused the other digimon's arrival? Enter young Matt and TK Ishida joined by their troublesome parrot.


Having no name for this, in my computer it had the really cheesy title of "A Parrot's Life for Me"… It stuck. Look out for appearances from a couple chosen besides Matt and TK!

Apparently Popsicle is a brand? Who knew. Anyway I don't own it… or digimon.

* * *

A Parrot's Life for Me

Bed head and burnt toast. A typical start to an extraordinary day for a young Matt Ishida.

His father Hiroaki practically sprinted into the open kitchen area. Eyes still puffy and hair askew, he rushed to open the fridge, grabbed the first thing he saw (which happened to be a bag of frozen peas), and fumbled around the room for his brief case.

"Matt, I need to get to work. Your mother already left _and didn't wake me up_," he ended bitterly which his son chose to ignore.

He instead continued glaring at his toast and said, "I thought it was your day off."

"The news never rests," Hiroaki replied matter-of-factly gaining him an eye roll from Matt who'd heard that too many times before.

Matt carefully picked up his butter knife and tried scraping ashes off of his toast, but it was scorched practically the whole way through. Meanwhile Hiroaki retrieved his briefcase from its hiding place near the couch in the family room and began a new search for his cream-colored trench coat.

"You're in charge," he reminded while tossing various jackets and hats around in the coat closet.

"Yeah, yeah," Matt muttered while scraping ashes off the other side of his toast, "Oh and Dad?"

Hiroaki poked his head out from the closet, and his son wordlessly pointed to the desired coat draped over the back of the couch. He sheepishly grabbed it and left, making sure to ruffle up Matt's hair on the way out.

"Hey!" The eight-year-old protested to the already closed door. He tried to fix his hair while giving up on breakfast and leaving the toast on the table.

_'I'll let TK have it,'_ he thought, _'No one else would dare eat it.' _He strolled toward his room before remembering TK hadn't been in there when he woke up. In fact he hadn't seen his little brother all morning…

"TK!" Matt shouted into the apartment. With no response he tried again, "TK, where are you?" With a quick roll of his eyes he walked down the short hallway peaking into all of the rooms. Finally he reached the last door that unlike the others was shut.

He stood frozen in front of it wondering if he should even risk checking inside. On the other side of the door was his mom's home office, more precisely her work computer that had to have every newspaper article she'd ever written archived on it. Many a threat had been made over what would happen if someone were to break that computer or to delete a file or even to breathe on it too heavily.

And if there was anything Matt feared it was the wrath of his mother after messing with her work computer.

Still not stepping inside the room, he twisted the knob and poked his head in. Sure enough, sitting on the floor along with the near-sacred computer was a little boy with a mop of blonde hair.

"TK, what are you doing?" Matt hissed expecting the computer to explode now that he'd looked at it, "You aren't allowed to be in here."

"But he was lonely," TK answered simply. He didn't move though and was entranced by the blank monitor.

"Who?"

"I don't know his name," TK replied airily, "I don't think he knows either."

Matt blinked. Five year olds aren't the most rational people, but he had to realize he was talking about a computer. "You can't be in here. Get out," Matt ordered with as much authority as an eight year old can muster.

TK simply twisted around to look at his brother with pleading, blue eyes. "I can't leave. Come listen!"

With a worried glance to the door, Matt stepped into the forbidden room. He sat cross-legged on the floor by his brother and leaned in toward the computer.

"I don't hear anything."

"You're not listening," TK sing-songed.

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not."

Matt sighed deeply and stood up. "The computer's off. It's not gonna make any noise."

As he spoke, a bright light erupted from the monitor.

"…Well it's still not making noise."

A series of loud beeps began that continued getting progressively louder until they manifested into a pattern and the boys could make out a distinct voice. "Want out… Want out, want out… Want out! Want out! Want out!"

The light grew brighter as the voice distorted into a high-pitched screech causing both of them to back away clutching their ears. A smooth object slowly came out from the computer, and as it did the light began to dim. The object made a thunk as it hit the ground, and the screeching stopped.

A subdued silence set in before TK shouted, "An egg!" He scurried forward and poked it apprehensively. The orange spotted egg shook slightly from the force.

"Hey, I'll handle this," Matt interjected. He motioned for his brother to step back then he carefully tiptoed up to the egg… and poked it in the same manner TK had.

The five year old folded his arms. "I did that!"

Matt didn't respond since he remained intent on the egg. He picked it up and was shocked by how heavy it was. Egg leaning against his chest, he carried it out of the room motioning for TK to follow.

"See! I told you! The egg was talking to me!" TK exclaimed.

Matt glanced back at the office just glad to be out of there. "Eggs don't talk."

"You don't listen," TK countered watching his brother place the egg on the floor in the sitting room.

"Fine, what's it saying?" the elder challenged as they both sat down on either side of the object in question.

TK gave his brother a bewildered look. "Eggs don't talk, Matt."

His palm swiftly made contact to his forehead. "... Whatever, we need to get rid of this thing."

TK placed a hand protectively over the egg. "Why?"

"Because it came out of Mom's computer! She must know about it, and if she finds out we have it she'll know we were in her office and then…" Matt trailed off as he shuddered at the thought.

The younger watched the egg thoughtfully. "But he was lonely. We can't leave him all alone again."

"He won't be alone," Matt assured as he took the egg in both his hands, "He'll be… with his own kind."

000

"Whadda you mean you won't buy it? It's an egg!"

The teenage cashier looked like she was about to burst out laughing. "Sorry, kid, but we get our eggs from a farm, not the leftovers from your last Easter egg hunt."

Matt glared up at the cashier, but it lost some of its effectiveness since he was balancing on tiptoes just to see over the counter. "Come on, you guys have cracked eggs in _all _of your cartons! Just replace one with this!" He shoved the egg up over his head for the cashier to see.

She leaned on her elbow over the counter. "Hate to break it to you but that thing won't even fit in the carton."

Matt felt someone tug on his sleeve. TK pleaded, "See, no one wants him! We have to take him, or he'll be all alone."

With one last glare up at the cashier, Matt receded from the counter with his brother in toe. He stared down at the egg. "Why are you calling the egg him?"

"Because it's a boy egg," TK answered as though it were obvious.

"But how do you know that?" he challenged as he pushed open the small store's door causing its bell to ding shortly.

"He told me," the younger explained simply as he stepped outside of the small store.

Matt raised an eyebrow. "I thought eggs don't talk."

"They don't."

He waited for his brother to elaborate, but he didn't. Matt caught sight of a melon stand set up to the left of the door, and with a sly smile he lightly tossed the egg to the top of the pile. "Eh, they're more his size."

TK's eyes grew wide. "You're gonna leave him there?"

Matt shrugged. "He's among friends."

The two boys left, one practically dragging the other away. Bystanders rushed around dodging each other and the melon cart blocking the sidewalk. The spotted egg shook when they bumped into the cart until it finally tumbled off the pile and hit the concrete with a crack.

Among all the business people and the occasional tourist rushing down the Tokyo sidewalk was a local girl no older than seven skipping and humming joyfully, excited by her new pinky, floppy hat that she had to hold onto with both hands. The hat kept falling over her eyes, and she could barely see a thing including the cracked egg on the ground.

Her foot ran into the cracked egg mid-skip punting it a good few feet into a parking meter. It continued to shake despite no one touching it anymore. Unnoticed by the busy pedestrians, the egg glowed and sat straight up. The shaking grew rapid and the crack spread out farther until the top of the egg exploded off and the glowing ceased leaving in its place a small, white blob.

"Poyo," the creature said in his high pitched voice. "Poyo, poyo, poyo!" He hopped around in a circle trying to find a friendly face, but all he saw were brown shoes and black pants. He scrunched up his face and screamed, "POYO!" but still no one looked down.

As if in answer to his shouting, one curly-haired woman stepped over to the edge of the sidewalk, set down a brown bag of groceries, and leaned down to tie her shoe. Assuming she had stopped for him, the white blob hopped over to her and plopped into the bag of groceries.

000

_Crash!_

"Not again," groaned the redheaded seven-year-old. He reached down to rebuild what was going to be a model of Tokyo made out of Legos. That is, if he ever got farther than the first skyscraper.

"Izzy!" called his mother from the other room. "I have a surprise for you!"

Curious, Izzy's mind started ticking. Maybe his mom finally got that laptop he'd been asking for. He abandoned the blocks and went to find his mother in the kitchen with a couple bags of groceries.

"Oh there you are! Look what I found at the store today." She pulled out a small, light green book. "It's a Word-of-the-Day Calendar!"

"Oh... That's great, Mom." He tried and failed to look excited, but she didn't seem to notice.

As she went on about the practical and educational uses of a Word-of-the-Day calendar, Izzy caught sight of something moving in one of the grocery bags. That something popped out and settled on the table. Izzy stared in wonder at the creature, a white blob that reminded him of a ghost. The little ghost met his eyes, giggled, and went hopping down the hallway and through the first door, into Izzy's bedroom.

"…And today's word means something remarkable or unnatural," his mom finished.

"That certainly defines that thing," Izzy muttered. He thanked his mother and took the calendar back to his room. He set it down on his desk, took a deep breath, and put on his best friendly face.

"Excuse me, little—uh, ghost, come out! I'm not going to hurt you."

"Poooyyo," sing-songed a voice from under the bed.

The boy tiptoed toward the bed and carefully knelt down. "It's okay, Little Ghost, I just want to know who you are." He stuck his head under the bed but caught no sight of the creature.

"Poyoooo!"

Izzy jerked his head around to find the creature perched on the edge of his desk, a playful smile lighting its face.

Slowly creeping forward, he kept his voice quiet and calm. "Stay there, Little Ghost, I'm only going to talk to you."

It hopped up and down, giggling harder now, and then leaped into the air and over the boy's head. It only took a second for Izzy to lose sight of him.

"Where'd you go now?" He asked.

"I'm over here, Silly," a squeaky voice said.

Izzy turned and on his bed was not the Little Ghost but a completely new creature, the same shade of white but with four legs and two crinkly ears. "Little Ghost?" he tried.

"You mean Poyomon? Yes but now I'm Tokomon. Pleased to meet you."

"You talk? And you changed?" Izzy asked amazed.

The creature smiled revealing a massive amount of teeth. "Yep but I didn't come to talk. I need to find Greymon. How he stumbled into the Human World is beyond me…."

"Human world? Are there other worlds? What world did you come from?"

"Hey, slow down!" Tokomon interrupted. "That's a story for another day. Right now, I need to find Greymon."

However a bit annoyed his questions were left unanswered, Izzy couldn't resist helping find this creature's friend. It was a new challenge. "To know where he is you have to know where he's been, so maybe you should figure out how he got here."

"Probably the same way I did: through a computer," Tokomon said off-handedly, "Wait a minute, the computer! He must've gone through the same one I did!"

"Great, start there." Izzy grinned, glad to be able to help. He turned to retrieve his Word-of-the-Day Calendar off the desk. Once he turned back around sitting in Tokomon's place was a dark green feathered parrot.

Izzy peeled his eyes away from the creature to his Word of the Day Calendar.

"Prodigious."

000

Matt daintily lifted the cardboard-like toast into the air. "So are you gonna have this or not? Because I'm about ready to throw it away."

TK's focus remained outside as he stood on the couch peering out the window it leaned up against.

Matt sighed and let the toast drop back onto the plate. "It's just an egg."

"Eggs hatch," he said.

"Then it gets to leave the melon stand and see the world. We did it a favor."

"He's a he, not an it," TK mumbled, chin resting on the top of the couch while he peered out the window. He watched the clouds playing tricks in the sky, pretending to be pirate ships and bunny rabbits. Gumdrops and monster trucks. Dragons and… a parrot? TK blinked pulling away from the window. For a cloud the figure was awfully green, and it was moving closer. Wait, it wasn't a cloud; it was some kind of bird, but why was it flying toward their window?

"… IT'S THE EGG!" TK yelped nearly tumbling off the couch in the process. He crawled back over to the window and fumbled with the lock. Just as the window sprung open, the bird flapped through, circled the room and landed on the table right in front of a wide-eyed Matt. The bird cocked its head at him then pecked at his toast before stabbing it with its beak.

"Hey, NO! That's my toast!" Matt lunged at the bird, but it flew off the table and over to the couch.

TK protectively stroked one of the parrot's wings. "You said you didn't want the toast."

"I don't want him to have it either," he muttered.

The younger brother hopped off the couch and signaled for the bird to follow. To Matt's annoyance, it did. The bird landed back on the table, and TK scurried over to the fridge.

"Here, Mr. Parrot," he offered. "If you're hungry you can have the veggies. I sure don't want them."

The creature bent over the table, eyeing the head of broccoli. Slowly he unarched his back like a Drinking Bird. Beak open wide he piped, "NO!"

Both boys jumped back in surprise. TK cheered, "You can talk!"

"It's a _parrot_," Matt said. "He's only copying what I said earlier."

"I beg your pardon," the parrot scoffed. "I can speak for myself, thank you. I don't need assistance from the likes of you. By the by, I prefer Parrotmon, not Mr. Parrot."

Matt's jaw practically hit the floor while TK just giggled.

"Wow, Mr. Parrot, you talk good!"

"Well," he corrected.

The older brother kept staring. "B-but… HOW?" You-your… You're a bird!"

Parrotmon tilted his head. "A what? Sorry, I'm not familiar with your world's terms, but I'm a digimon, not a bird."

"Our world?" Matt repeated.

"A digimon?" TK asked.

He rolled his eyes. "Oh my, the kind of education humans receive… Don't know a thing about anything important. Anyway, another digimon didn't happen to come through your computer before me, did it?"

Matt gave his brother a sideways glance. "TK, how many of these things did you let in?"

"Only this one, I swear!" To emphasize the five year old put a hand to his heart.

Parrotmon cocked his head in a way that was much more owl than parrot. "But he had to enter the same way as me. Here, let me just take a look at that computer-"

"No, no, no way!" Matt interrupted jumping down from his chair. "There's no way that we're going back into Mom's office! No way at all! I'd rather be stuck with you!"

"This was the only open portal!" The digimon explained. "It has to be how Greymon got here."

TK shrugged. "Maybe another portal closed."

Parrotmon's claws scraped the table in frustration. "But if he came through another portal I have no idea where he is! No place to start, no place to go! It can't be this hard to find a forty foot monster!"

"Just a thought, but you might want to look outside." Matt hopped up onto the couch and pushed open the window. "By all means, go."

"We can help you!" TK offered.

"No, we can't."

"Come on, Matt! He needs to find his friend."

Parrotmon flew from the table to the edge of the open window and leaned in toward Matt. "What if I were to offer you twenty digi-dollars for your assistance?"

He blinked and retreated back. "What on Earth is a digi-dollar?"

"On Earth? Well, nothing but in the Digital world it might come in handy one day."

Matt was gearing up to make a snide remark but was cut short by the sound of a twisting doorknob. Him and TK both froze.

"Matt! TK! Are you here? I just stopped home for lunch."

"That's Dad," the younger brother whispered.

"I know who it is. What are we gonna do?" Matt asked indicating the digimon who was blissfully preening his feathers.

"Ask him where Mr. Parrot's friend is?" TK suggested hopefully.

Matt winced as he heard the closet door shut and footsteps head toward them. "Then he'll know we were in Mom's office. You distract him, I'll hide the bird."

Parrotmon huffed much louder than the others hushed whispers, "I'm not a bird."

"SSSSSHHH!" Matt grabbed the digimon causing a loud squawk and rushed down the hall just as Mr. Ishida entered the kitchen a bit apprehensively.

"Did something just… squawk?"

TK laughed nervously. "Nope, nothing, it wasn't a parrot if that's what you're thinking!"

"I wasn't." He narrowed his eyes. "Where's your brother?"

TK crossed his fingers behind his back. "Not here."

Mr. Ishida knew he answered way too quickly. He took a knee to better face his son. "Y'know, when little boys lie, they start to grow a tail."

"A t-tail?" he stuttered.

"Oh yeah, a _monkey_ tail. And the longer they keep up the lie the more monkey-like they become until they have to be shipped off to the mountains to live with their own kind."

TK's eyes couldn't be wider. Ever since that incident at the zoo, monkeys always scared him, and his dad was well aware of that. He gulped. "But I'm not lying."

"I never said you were. Now where's Matt? And what do you know about a parrot?"

He knew he had to keep Mr. Parrot safe. With all of his fingers crossed, TK answered, "Matt went out, but he'll be back soon, and parrots? Nothing, uh, pirates have parrots."

His father checked his watch. He really did need to have lunch and get going. Even if he was still suspicious, no one could ever lie after the Tail Story. "Well alright," he muttered and stood up to go rifle through the fridge.

Meanwhile, TK twisted around to search for his new monkey tail.

000

Parrotmon perched on the edge of the open window in Matt and TK's room. He shifted back and forth on his clawed talons and looked out apprehensively.

Matt, who for the past twenty minutes had been perfectly content to lie on his bed, play his harmonica, and wait, couldn't help but watch the antsy creature out of the corner of his eye. "Can you sit still?"

"Can you get a new haircut?" he shot over his shoulder.

The eight-year-old was taken aback. "What's wrong with my hair?"

"I don't know. I just needed a comeback," the digimon answered, but his mind seemed to be somewhere else as his eyes scored the streets below.

Matt sighed. "Why is it so important to find this guy anyway? If he's forty feet tall, he can take care of himself."

Parrotmon sighed. "You don't listen."

"Yes, I do!" Matt practically screeched. "Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"Greymon isn't supposed to be here, and I'm not either. We need to get home without wreaking too much havoc on your world."

He tried not to laugh. "And what kind of havoc could a parrot cause?"

The creature huffed, "Quite a lot actually." He twisted his head and shot a small bolt of lightning, successfully burning a hole in their wooden floor.

"GAH!" Matt yelped and sprang from his bed. He quickly threw a pillow over the hole. "Are you crazy? How do I talk my way out of this one? You just put a hole in the floor!... What kind of bird shoots lightning from its head?!"

"The digimon kind," Parrotmon answered smugly. "Now do you understand why we're dangerous and have to get back to our world."

"Yeah, I guess," Matt muttered still looking around for a more permanent way to cover up the hole.

"Good, then I must be off."

"Now?" he asked. "We can't leave while my dad's still here."

"No, but I can. Too bad you guys couldn't help me, but I've got a lot of places to look with so little time." Parrotmon pecked Matt hard on the head and rushed out the window.

The child held his head and shook his other fist in the air. "What kind of a goodbye was that?" He grumbled something about birds, snatched his harmonica, and laid down on his bed, ready to relax a little now that the digimon was gone, but after only a few notes his little brother poked his head in.

"Coast's clear," he announced. He scanned the room and frowned. "Where's Mr. Parrot?"

"Left," Matt answered between breaths. He played a mellow tune made even slower by the time it took him to think through each note. He hadn't had the instrument for long and wasn't exactly a master yet.

TK ran over to the open window and looked around expecting the digimon to be flying nearby. "You let him leave? He's all alone! Matt, we have to find him."

He stopped playing. "No, we don't. Trust me, that guy can survive on his own. He shoots lightning bolts."

Either TK didn't understand the strangeness of a parrot shooting lightning or he chose to ignore it in his panic. "We need to find him! He's our friend!"

Matt massaged his head bitterly. "That's not what I'd call him."

"Please, can't we just look for him?" TK begged with hands folded.

The elder brother sighed. "I don't think he wants to be found, Squirt."

"That doesn't mean he doesn't want us to look."

000

After several hours of searching with a reluctant boy and a hopeful child, they had no choice but to call it a day.

"We can't go home! We never found him," TK protested as his older brother pushed him out of the elevator and onto their floor.

"I know… but maybe he finally made it home." To his surprise, Matt actually was disappointed and somewhat worried about if the creature had gotten back to its world alright. A day of stealing toast, pecking, and walking around town 'til your feet will fall off really makes you care about someone.

"At least we found an ice cream truck," Matt added indicating the dripping, orange Popsicle in TK's hand with his own that was now just a stick with a lame pun on it.

TK didn't respond and headed into the apartment solemnly. Matt followed and immediately spotted his dad sitting at the kitchen table and their mother standing close by, hands on her hips. They both froze as they watched their sons walk in, as if they had just interrupted something.

A quick cough to clear his throat then, "Popsicles before dinner?" their father asked suggestively. Their mother huffed silently and stepped over to the stove.

"It's been a long day," Matt said as TK walked passed him to go sulk on the couch.

"Boys," their mom said turning to face them, "I know what you were up to today."

Matt's eyes widened. How could she know? There weren't feathers or anything lying around, right? He fell to his knees dramatically. "WE'RE SORRY!"

"You should be," she scolded, "You know you're not allowed to go into my office."

"…Oh," Matt stood up, relieved she didn't know then paused realizing being caught in his mom's office was much worse than hanging out with a mutant parrot. "It was TK's fault! I had to get him out of there."

TK nearly choked on his Popsicle. "Hey, I was only there 'cause-"

"It doesn't matter why," Mrs. Ishida interrupted, "You both know not to go in there."

"Yes, Mom," they said submissively.

She smiled. "Good, now wash up because dinner will be ready soon."

TK obliged, but Matt stood there dumbstruck. "That's it? Dad said if I ever got caught in your office I'd wind up with a monkey tail!"

Mrs. Ishida shot an annoyed look over to her husband who simply shrugged. "What? It worked until today."

000

Matt collapsed into his bottom bunk. After a long day, he was more than ready to get some sleep. He readjusted his pillow then shut his eyes.

"Matt, come here!"

He furrowed his brow but refused to open his eyes. "No, go to bed."

"No, really! Come here!"

Matt sighed and lifted himself out of bed. He trudged over to where TK stood looking out the window. "This better be good."

"Look!"

His eyes shifted lazily to the city outside. He caught sight of the street lights and the melon stand and kept looking higher up until he saw in the sky two figures fighting, larger than life, a dinosaur… and a parrot.

"B-but how did he get so big?" Matt stuttered coming to stand behind his little brother.

TK shrugged, a huge smile on his face. "Maybe he ate his veggies."

* * *

Thanks for reading!


End file.
